I’m taking a break. I am trying not to think about how hopeless this is.

There’s a drain in the basement. Rather than absorbing run-off, it appears to be the source of the flooding. The water table is so high, the water just keeps coming in.

A neighbor and I spent 3 hours pumping and bailing. Then my ex arrived and we worked another 2 hours with the shop vac and various pump set-ups. Eventually we gave up and are now just trying to put things up on shelves or remove entirely anything we can drag out of there. It already stinks to high heaven, and–oh yeah–isn’t covered under my homeowner’s insurance.

Blame me — it is all my fault. I have this thing about causing raining in basements (I present exhibit A — bought house 16 days before opening basement door to RAIN — full on RAIN in my basement; exhibit B: moved across country and somehow caused the wetest rainy season on record, including water running through my garage from the crawl space on New Year’s Day). I’m sure this is not because you failed to knock on wood or didn’t go to church yesterday. This is simply because you know me — the unluckiest girl in the world when it comes to water in basements.

FWIW, I’m sorry; but no, you may not send me a bill — my insurance won’t cover it either.

Oh damn Mir. That happened to us…way too much rainfall in a one hour period, and the water pumping station was hit by lightning. All that water came rushing back at us, and we ended up with a foot of nasty water in our finished basement. Our sump pump couldn’t keep up. I cried like a baby. Our damages totalled more than 15K.

If FEMA comes in, like they did for us, you can get a grant to pay for cleaning costs and structural repairs, but not personal items. They’ll advise you to install back-flow valves, to prevent that from happening again, if the source of the water wasn’t coming solely from the tiles around the foundation of your house.

Sweetie, I know how you feel, so if you need to talk, you let me know. *HUGS*

Oh, dammit, Mir. I irritated with the universe on your behalf. You deserve a break.

I’m proud of Chickadee for at least making and effort to help out by making lunch. Her skills will improve with age, never fear. G started out learning how to make scrambled eggs at about 8 and has been the family chef ever since.